Answered by:

Visio 2010 product (activation) key problem

Question

I have just downloaded a free 60-day trial version of Visio 2010 Premium. I also have obained a product (activation) key. Now what do I do with this product key in order to get my trial version of Visio to work (i.e., activate it)?

Answers

Just Open Visio --> File Menu --> Help --> See on Right Side --> Does it show product Activated or it shows something else

If you see Activate Product Key in Help then click on it --> Follow your steps in wizard with internet connection on.

If it shows product activated then you cannot activate your product again with a new product key only option is that you have to input a genuine product key (purchased product) then only go for activation to convert the trial to full product.

Now about your question for Activation by phone, Activation on phone is done only for full purchased products not the trial products.

Please respond back with more feedback.

For Microsoft Online Support visit
http://support.microsoft.com/?LN=en-in&x=4&y=10 At bottom find link contact microsoft by phone or email --> click -->Type Visio 2010 in product box ---> Support site starts follow the wizard.... (This is for india) top right side corner
change your country you will get your support options.

I did what you suggested and opened the Help menu. It appears that the Visio is activated. While it doesn't explicitly say that it is active, it also does not ask me to activate it with a Product Key either. Also I have been using the Visio
a little today and I assume that if the product were inactive, I would not be able to use it at all. So I assume from all of this that it must be activated. As you mentioned, perhaps because it is a trial version it does not need a Product
Key for activation.

Yes surely your product is activated. Otherwise you get an Activate The Product Key button in the help menu. Similarly if the trial will expire after whatever 60 days pass out after activation, you will be given some grace period beyond 60 days with messages
to activate and switch over to the full version and if you dont switchover during that duration, your product will go under reduced functionality mode which means it will allow you to use minimum amount of basic features only many main and important features
will be disabled.

Your instructions were excellent. My initial problem was that I completed the installation of Visio 2010 Premium (60-day free Trial Version) before receiving the Product Key - no product keys were available at the time of installation.
Later, once I had acquired the Product Key, I wanted to use it to activate the software, but didn't know how to go about it. So your response was correct. I followed your instructions exactly, and found the Visio program in
the Uninstaller area and tried to enter the Product Key but in doing so I received the following error message

Error 25004. The product key you entered cannot be used on this machine. This is most likely due to previous Office 2010 trials being installed. (System error: -1073422306)".

I cannot believe this. What difference does/should it make that I had previously installed a Microsoft Office 2010 product trial? I may have done so, but I don't recall it, as it would have been long ago. Nevertheless I can't believe they
would exclude me from trying another product for evaluation.

You mentioned something about activating by phone. Would you happen to have the appropriate phone number so that I can try that process. Thank you for your excellent help!

From your description it appears that you have already installed Visio 2010 as earlier you said and you now got product key to activate it but trial versions can be installed only once on a machine. Once installed and trial expired for any office application
will not allow Visio 2010 to be activated. Even phone activation is not possible. Now only way is that you have to get a genuinely purchased VISIO 2010 product key and then try using above steps to get full version. Continue to use till it stops working. It
will give a message when trial expires but sorry another installation is not allowed as per policy.

1. I have DOWNLOADED Visio 2010 Premium, but I have not yet ACTIVATED it using the Product Key - as you know, normally the activation is accomplished as part of the download process, but as I said, during the download they informed
me that no Product Keys were available at that time, so I proceeded with and completed the software download without having a Product Key. Later I was able to go back and acquire a Product Key, and now am trying to figure out how to activate
the product. Thats when I followed your instructions and the system responded with the error message about another trial version of a Windows 2010 product being installed on my system.

2. Are you saying that if I had downloaded a free trial version of ANY Microsoft 2010 software product (say, Excel or PowerPoint, for instance) that I would not be allowed to install a trial version of Visio? I have not downloaded any free trial
versions of any Microsoft product in the past several years previous to this. I may have downloaded a trial version of a Microsoft software product several years ago (but it would not be a Microsoft 2010 product). Could that be the problem?
In fact, I may have downloaded a trial version of Visio several years ago, but I cannot find it installed on my system now - it appears to have been uninstalled (and it would not have been a Microsoft 2010 version).

3. What seems to be going on (and this would be incredible) is that, because I had no Product Key available while downloading, and did not activate during the download procedure, and continued the download without the Product Key, it is not
allowing me to use the Product Key now because it has detected the downloaded free trial version that is currently installed on my system (but not yet activated!). This all sounds like a 'Catch 22' situation (if you're familiar with the book)
- i.e., I can't activate the trial version I've downloaded without an Product Key, and I can't use the Product Key that I acquired after completing the download because the trial version has been detected on my system, etc., etc.

4. Finally, and this would be funny if I weren't so frustrated - is it possible that the Visio 2010 software has activated itself automatically without my doing anything to accomplish it? That is, could or would it have activated itself automatically after
I retrieved the Product Key, without my involvement? If so, this would make no sense to me - how or why would it know to activated itself, with my having accomplished the procedure you outlined to me for activating with the Product Key? In fact,
how can I verify if the product is activated or not? Sorry to be so dumb about this, but this is my first experience trying to use Visio.

This is all very crazy. I think the best thing for me to do is to speak to some human being at Microsoft who can help me through this quandry. Do you have a phone number for a product support person that I can use?

Just Open Visio --> File Menu --> Help --> See on Right Side --> Does it show product Activated or it shows something else

If you see Activate Product Key in Help then click on it --> Follow your steps in wizard with internet connection on.

If it shows product activated then you cannot activate your product again with a new product key only option is that you have to input a genuine product key (purchased product) then only go for activation to convert the trial to full product.

Now about your question for Activation by phone, Activation on phone is done only for full purchased products not the trial products.

Please respond back with more feedback.

For Microsoft Online Support visit
http://support.microsoft.com/?LN=en-in&x=4&y=10 At bottom find link contact microsoft by phone or email --> click -->Type Visio 2010 in product box ---> Support site starts follow the wizard.... (This is for india) top right side corner
change your country you will get your support options.

I did what you suggested and opened the Help menu. It appears that the Visio is activated. While it doesn't explicitly say that it is active, it also does not ask me to activate it with a Product Key either. Also I have been using the Visio
a little today and I assume that if the product were inactive, I would not be able to use it at all. So I assume from all of this that it must be activated. As you mentioned, perhaps because it is a trial version it does not need a Product
Key for activation.

Yes surely your product is activated. Otherwise you get an Activate The Product Key button in the help menu. Similarly if the trial will expire after whatever 60 days pass out after activation, you will be given some grace period beyond 60 days with messages
to activate and switch over to the full version and if you dont switchover during that duration, your product will go under reduced functionality mode which means it will allow you to use minimum amount of basic features only many main and important features
will be disabled.

Microsoft is conducting an online survey to understand your opinion of the Technet Web site. If you choose to participate, the online survey will be presented to you when you leave the Technet Web site.